A more recent example of a clandestine tunnel beneath Washington, D.C. came to light in 2001 in connection with the Robert Hanssen spy scandal. Hanssen was the FBI counter-espionage agent who was arrested and jailed for spying for the Russians. News reports in March of 2001 revealed that Hanssen evidently tipped off the Soviets that during the 1980s the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Security Agency (NSA) had secretly dug a surveillance tunnel beneath the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. The project reportedly cost several hundred million dollars.

When asked about the clandestine project on the CBS News Face the Nation television news show, Vice President Dick Cheney commented: “If it were true such a tunnel were dug, I couldn’t talk about it anyway.” As we shall shortly see, this is an interesting response by Dick Cheney, indeed!